I have so many Savanaclaw headcanons but if I don’t stop now I’ll never get it done and thus need to curb my enthusiasm.  Have 15K+ words of Savanaclaw dorm headcanons.

(i.e. a pseudo essay on racism / whitewashing / ethnic diversity, and an artistic choice + Twisted Wonderland)

    At the outset, I would like to point out that I fully agree that racism is wrong. I have no doubts about it. And yes, whitewashing is a problem, considering that people of color feel like there is no proper representation of someone like them in media.  This essay was not written to offend anyone. I just wanted to highlight a tendency that I often encounter in Twisted Wonderland fandom.

Definition/ The Power of Fiction/ Twisted Wonderland

   The definition of “whitewashing” can be summed up in the statement that it is an action based on “Hiring white actresses and actors for roles intended for representatives of other races or ethnic minorities.” or deliberate or not fully consciously designing a character with an intention of a different ethnic / racial origin, but without or with little recognition of the characteristics of this group (skin color, facial features, etc.) So we are talking about a certain representation of the realities of the real world. But what when we are dealing with a fantasy world, where the creator has all the rights given to them by unlimited imagination? What if „race” (God, I don’t like that word for many reasons) is no longer an interpersonal construct when there are species other than human? And what if we put several different ethnic groups in one territory, and they mix with each other to form a community?

Well, then we are dealing with the non-obvious. Not only in the realm of differences between ethnic groups as such, but also inter species (humans beasts, fairies, gnomes, orcs, trolls, whatever comes to your mind). With such an arsenal of diversity, less significant physical discrepancies may, at the creator’s will, lose any meaning (e.g. the latest Witcher on Netflix).

   The world of Twisted Wonderland from what we have seen pays attention to diversity mainly species and culture than the skin color of the characters (Well, yes, I remember the fairies gala during which Leona, Kalim and Jamil were called „exotic” but as far as we saw no one did  comment on them in a negative way because of the color of their skin. Not every comment on this topic is fully linguistically negative).

From what we can see, race (I mean mermaids, fairies, beastmen) in this context is, as already, the subject of comment. At this point I would like to mention Sebek, who so far is probably the only character discriminating against someone on the basis of race, interestingly- only people. While being half fae. Sebek, I know you can do better; -;

   However … what does all of this have to do with anything? That the world is rich in diversity, blends, and non-obviousness. Reality is intertwined with imagination and magic. What does all this have to do with whitewashing? The fact  is that there are not only two races! Even with us. There are many ethnic groups, mixed relationships, emigration. Closing into “black” and “white” (I know that whitewashing affects not only blacks, but this post would still be longer) closes us to other people, to other possibilities like you know, Mulattoes, Latinos, Gypsies e.t.c-they all seem to be in some untouched gray area in discussion of whitewashing and somewhere beyond the topic itself .

A character in fantasy world can have all sorts of features. They may have white hair and black skin with sharp eyes. They may have the most fanciful heterochromia, birthmarks, and yes, the fantasy world is based on the real world, but doesn’t have to obey its laws.

Context speaks volumes.

   The whitewashing allegations seem to hover around Leona. What do we know about him? He is a beastman based on Scar, a cult figure, the antagonist of The Lion King. He is the prince of a kingdom called Afterglow Savannah (depends on the translation). This country is inhabited by both beastmen (Ruggie) and people (Rook-emigration? Who knows?) The main argument „Leona must be black” theory, is that the action of the “Lion King” takes place in Africa, and more specifically in Kenya. And since the country of Leona itself, suggests a similar location in terms of the Savannah, as well as the original location that Disney studio modeled when creating the animation, the conclusion is that Leona and all residents of Afterglow Savannah should be black to resemble the people of Kenya. The problem is … it doesn’t have to be that way. Because Pride Land wasn’t Kenya or Afterglow Savannah after all. The inspired site does not have to be the target site. And from what we know, the country mentioned in the game may be a place containing many, smaller cultures, minorities, and the color of the skin seems to have absolutely no meaning. How important is an animal which characteristics you have and social status (Ruggie in Afterglow Savannah was discriminated because he was a hyena and lived in a slum ). And important thing- we don’t know much about Afterglow Savannah. Nobody from Aniplex or Yana Toboso said that Afterglow Savannach is 100% Africa. Because inspiration is not the same as a literal transfer of reality.

Inspiration and interpretation

BUT going to the point. Is Leona black? He doesn’t have to. But do you know who is? Sam. Really, why isn’t anyone talking about him? And why is that so? Why isn’t Leona black, but Sam is?

Being inspired by a given character means transferring the most characteristic features and transforming them into a new, but similar form. Sam is a character modeled on the evil voodoo magician Dr. Facilier. A black character in the fairy tale “The Princess and the Frog” (one of my favorite Disney animations btw) which is the first Disney animation full of black heroes. If Sam were white - yes it would be definitive problem. The color of his skin, despite the fact that it does not define the character (no skin color defines a human), is a key element due to the original. Like our two students from Scarabia, they are presented as coming from a place culturally similar to Agrabah (a fictional place) because it was a special place for the action. Leona, in turn, is a character modeled on ANIMAL. Not a man of a given culture. His skin color does NOT matter, because it is in no way relevant to the prototype. In that case, we got a man with lion’s physical features, a scar on his eye, green eyes, and a bad temper. Because it matters to the original. We have many iconic scenes related to the movie with him. And that’s all.

 Conclusion

“With such an arsenal of diversity, less significant physical discrepancies may, at the creator’s will, lose any meaning” – that is not a good thing.  It being a fantasy setting should not magically make it so that different phenotypes suddenly become a non-option.  If your fantasy series shows an extremely limited, half-assed attempt with just one (1) character (Sam) with any physically unique features (his locs, his darker skin), then you are reflecting a bias, intentionally or not, in how you design characters and think of ethnic phenotypes outside flat straight hair and thin negligible lips.  Are there black people with Ethnocentric traits?  Yes.  That’s an obvious fact of life.  But are phenotypes like full lips and textured hair widely ignored?  Also yes.  And guess what?  That’s not a fucking good thing.  You want to say it can be a deliberate or unconscious decision of how Toboso creates characters? Well, there you have it.  Since she’s designed Sam the way she has, she’s made it very clear it is a deliberate choice to make Jack, Leona, Jamil, and Kalim look like this.

Yeah, real fucking great diversity, mate.  If she can have such a ~diverse~ set of humans, beastfolk, and fae, then it should be no problem for her to branch ou t when it comes to the rest of their designs. But she chose not to.  I wonder why?  Because they lost meaning?  Is that supposed to be a good thing?  Is it a good thing they’re all the same light, greyish brown?

   The world of Twisted Wonderland from what we have seen pays attention to diversity mainly species and culture than the skin color of the characters (Well, yes, I remember the fairies gala during which Leona, Kalim and Jamil were called „exotic” but as far as we saw no one did comment on them in a negative way because of the color of their skin. Not every comment on this topic is fully linguistically negative). So you’re saying, that Kalim, Leona, and Jamil being singled out as ‘exotic’ wasn’t a racial thing?  Because the flimsy explanation in-game was “oh they’re from rich backgrounds in hot climates uwu”?  When “exotic”, HISTORICALLY, get used as a way to fetishise skin colour and make it another case of “othering” dark skin from light skin? The way it’s disguised as a compliment when it all comes down to othering someone’s dark skin or otherwise ethnic traits compared to white people?  Kind of like how only the dark-skinned characters are considered ‘exotic’?  A term used for animals and objects is meant to compliment people?  

From what we can see, race (I mean mermaids, fairies, beastmen) in this context is, as already, the subject of comment. At this point I would like to mention Sebek, who so far is probably the only character discriminating against someone on the basis of race, interestingly- only people. While being half fae. Sebek, I know you can do better; -; Are you fucking illiterate?  Rook Hunt spends 90% of his lifetime obsessing, OBSESSING, over Beastfolk like Leona, stalking him, asking him (and Fae, for that matter), questions he has no business asking or are they obligated to answer.  He actively waters Leona down to only his animalistic traits, which he himself exasperates because he’s HARASSING Leona whenever the opportunity comes up.  He touches Ruggie’s tail without consent and makes unwarranted comments on his fur when forcing him to tell him about Leona when he doesn’t want to.  Just because his comments are camoflauged under his obsession towards beauty doesn’t mean he isn’t discriminatory against them.

   However … what does all of this have to do with anything? That the world is rich in diversity, blends, and non-obviousness. Reality is intertwined with imagination and magic. What does all this have to do with whitewashing? The fact  is that there are not only two races! Even with us. There are many ethnic groups, mixed relationships, emigration. Closing into “black” and “white” (I know that whitewashing affects not only blacks, but this post would still be longer) closes us to other people, to other possibilities like you know, Mulattoes, Latinos, Gypsies e.t.c-they all seem to be in some untouched gray area in discussion of whitewashing and somewhere beyond the topic itself.

You want to argue about whitewashing, when you’re too fucking stupid to recognise that G*psy is a slur against Romani? That “m*latto* is outdated and has history of being controversial as well?  And none of these groups are ‘untouched grey areas’.  You just don’t pay attention to discussions focused on them.  Just because you do not see it, does not mean it isn’t happening (and it very much is, unless you’ve been living under a goddamn rock during the, for example, ENTIRE issue of whitewashing in the Netflix Winx Club).

A character in fantasy world can have all sorts of features. They may have white hair and black skin with sharp eyes. They may have the most fanciful heterochromia, birthmarks, and yes, the fantasy world is based on the real world, but doesn’t have to obey its laws.

And yet, again, here’s Toboso’s vast and creative design choices for her dark-skinned major characters.  

She couldn’t even be bothered to make more than one (1) character with ANY SIGNIFICANT variation in skin tone.  All four of them are just this ‘consumable’, light brown that I could find on an apartment’s carpet.  And that’s JUST me bringing up skin colour because, again, in a fantasy setting, why couldn’t she be bothered to think about unique phenotypes?  Why is it okay for her to reflect her own biases again and again and again like the rest of mainstream media thoughout centuries, but it’s suddenly problematic for fans of colour to want more than just the same recycled designs?  When shows MUCH older than TWST, like JJBA and HxH, can have designs like Avdol, Annie, Smokey Brown (awful fucking name tho) and Canary, why can’t Toboso be bothered to more than just Sam?  Is there a good reason?  Or did Soma and Agni use up all her ink?

The whitewashing allegations seem to hover around Leona. What do we know about him? He is a beastman based on Scar, a cult figure, the antagonist of The Lion King. He is the prince of a kingdom called Afterglow Savannah (depends on the translation). This country is inhabited by both beastmen (Ruggie) and people (Rook-emigration? Who knows?) The main argument „Leona must be black” theory, is that the action of the “Lion King” takes place in Africa, and more specifically in Kenya. And since the country of Leona itself, suggests a similar location in terms of the Savannah, as well as the original location that Disney studio modeled when creating the animation, the conclusion is that Leona and all residents of Afterglow Savannah should be black to resemble the people of Kenya.

First off, no one’s fucking said that EVERY character from Afterglow Savannah has to be black.  Not a single fucking person.  That’s why it’s FINE that characters like Ruggie and Rook aren’t dark-skinned (you could easily just say Ruggie is mixed).  

  The problem is … it doesn’t have to be that way. Because Pride Land wasn’t Kenya or Afterglow Savannah after all. The inspired site does not have to be the target site.

And YET.  The Lion King uses SWAHILI NAMES for its animal characters.  It has songs USING THE SWAHILI LANGUAGE. KILAMANJARO IS IN THE ICONIC OPENING SCENE.  IT IS INDISPUTABLY SET IN AFRICA.  Just because it is not set in an explicitly stated African country, it USES THE LANGUAGE AND SCENERY ITSELF.  It’s in AFRICA.

And from what we know, the country mentioned in the game may be a place containing many, smaller cultures, minorities, and the color of the skin seems to have absolutely no meaning. How important is an animal which characteristics you have and social status (Ruggie in Afterglow Savannah was discriminated because he was a hyena and lived in a slum ). And important thing- we don’t know much about Afterglow Savannah. Nobody from Aniplex or Yana Toboso said that Afterglow Savannach is 100% Africa. Because inspiration is not the same as a literal transfer of reality.

You suffer from “colourblindness”, and there’s a plethora of fucking issues with that.  Since Afterglow Savannah has several cultures within it, it should reflect that in having several skin colours and phenotypes.  Not just cookie-cutter design bullshit Toboso may pull.  The clothing Cheka wears are based off African prints, his name, usually spelt T’cheka, is African in origin.  The moment you want to start using the language and clothing of the culture you’re ‘inspired’ by, you better fucking deliver and ACKNOWLEDGE that beyond just the pretty aesthetics to make things seem more ‘exotic’, as the game wants to put it.  It is a location based off the Lion King’s setting, which gets its inspiration from Kenya and Tanzania, using a language and scenery from Africa.  So the Afterglow Savannah better fucking reflect that in its culture and people.  The charcters themselves are BEASTFOLK, not ANIMALS, and using AFRICA, which has AFRICAN PEOPLE IN IT, it’s a bad look to JUST look at these characters as animals.

BUT going to the point. Is Leona black? He doesn’t have to. But do you know who is? Sam. Really, why isn’t anyone talking about him? And why is that so? Why isn’t Leona black, but Sam is?

You REALLY don’t want Leona to be black, huh.  Anyway Sam HAS come up in discussions in that he’s the one (1) character with darker skin and anything unique about his design (the locs).  

Being inspired by a given character means transferring the most characteristic features and transforming them into a new, but similar form. Sam is a character modeled on the evil voodoo magician Dr. Facilier. A black character in the fairy tale “The Princess and the Frog” (one of my favorite Disney animations btw) which is the first Disney animation full of black heroes. If Sam were white - yes it would be definitive problem. The color of his skin, despite the fact that it does not define the character (no skin color defines a human), is a key element due to the original.

Convenient avoidance of the racist and inaccurate portrayal of voodou in the Princess in the Frog to begin with, not to mention Sam’s edgy, nonsensical bone makeup that FURTHER reflects Toboso’s own biases and interpretations of something part of Haitian culture.  

Are you really doing this? “Leona doesn’t have to be black, you have Sam, be happy you have one (1) black character uwu”.  Since Sam can have some pigment, WHY CAN’T THE OTHERS? Since Sam has unique phenotypes, WHY CAN’T THE OTHERS.  And why is, even then, do people STILL manage to give Sam a lighter complexion in their fanart of him, let alone of the lighter skinned characters of colour?

Like our two students from Scarabia, they are presented as coming from a place culturally similar to Agrabah (a fictional place) because it was a special place for the action. For the record, the only reason Aladdin takes place in Agrabah is that, because, originally it was meant to take place in Iran. But then the war happened and Disney didn’t want to risk hurting their sales.  So now you have a setting haphazardly mixing unique SWANA cultures for the aesthetic and happily calling it “barbaric” within the first few verses at the very beginning of the goddamn movie.

Leona, in turn, is a character modeled on ANIMAL. Not a man of a given culture. His skin color does NOT matter, because it is in no way relevant to the prototype. In that case, we got a man with lion’s physical features, a scar on his eye, green eyes, and a bad temper. Because it matters to the original. We have many iconic scenes related to the movie with him. And that’s all.

And, again, we come back to the fact that Toboso is STILL CLEARLY USING INSPIRATION from African cultures, and watering down characters to JUST their animalistic traits is a bad look and reflects poorly on her decision-making skills (and you for that matter).  

Racism and colourism are just as prevalent in Japan as they are in the West.  People are discriminated against because of their skin colour, or just because of their ethnic background (the Ainu, the Okinawan), or just because they’re mixed (see: J’Nique Nicole and how she was treated working in Japan).

Japan isn’t your magical “race doesn’t matter” utopia.  Toboso is a grown ass Japanese woman in an industry centred on designs and worldbuilding, she fucking knows better. She CAN do better.  You want to ask WHY Leona has to be black?  Why DOESN’T he have to be black?  Why DOESN’T Afterglow Savannah have to reflect the FACT it takes inspiration DIRECTLY FROM Africa?

I will not grant you the undeserved comfort of my silence, because I am allowed to both enjoy, criticise, and straight up just RAG on a series at my leisure and that’s what I’m gonna do.  Also because I take great pride knowing I could and have done better with my own TWST content.  So Toboso can eat me out and hope that my cum has at least SOME iota of my competency in it for her to swallow and absorb and attempt to use for herself.  

Why yes, I do believe fans who don’t know what they’re talking about should keep their fucking mouths shut about this very specific issue instead of trying to speak over criticism/general complaints about it.  Now if only you were intelligent enough to do that. You’re very, VERY desperate to try and ‘prove’ that Leona isn’t black for your own comfort, which is pretty antiblack, beloved.  Not once did you stop and think about WHY you wanted to try and ‘debunk’ his blackness. Not fucking once did it ever occur to you how fucking freakish that is.

The game being set in Japan doesn’t magically alleviate it of being at least SOMEWHAT aware of what it’s doing.  Japan isn’t magically devoid of racism and colourism, and especially not antiblackness.  Not only are you wrong, but you’re trying to paint this as some comforting little essay to make people feel less bad about themselves when they’re too busy preaching about their ignorant colourblindness.  Your ‘right to be wrong’ is a neutral stance complicit with racism.

And I grew up in a culture that’s long normalised skin whitening/lightening products and looking down on Indians with darker skin because they don’t seem as pretty or look ‘dirty’.  That doesn’t mean I neglected to resist that and unlearn other internalised behaviours.

The Lion King explicitly takes place in Africa.  There are lyrics stating so.  It uses Swahili names and lyrics.  Broadway casts are always predominantly, if not entirely, black. And it was a conscious decision to do so.  The costumes, for animal characters, still incorporate African elements into the designs. The PLETHORA of existing ‘humanised’ artworks of Lion King feature them as black.  The Afterglow Savannah explicitly takes concepts from the Lion King’s setting.  The Afterglow Savannah is, logically speaking, based off Africa.  So, yes, Leona in canonically black.  Your ‘right to interpretation’ is based off willful ignorance.  

Fantasy is not always fit to reality, but it doesn’t live in a Utopian vacuum either.  The creator’s biases will always reflect in their works, intentionally or not.  And if I’m too ‘aggressive’ for you because I don’t want to lovingly caress your cheek whilst spelling out the obvious to you, then by god, call me an incarnation of Subrahmanya .  You have not earned my kindness.  Considering this issue reflects on how ACTUAL people in the fandom act regarding BIPOC, and REFLECTS their own ignorance and biases, this is still real.  And I, for the record, am intelligent enough to multitask fandom discourse with real life issues.  If that isn’t the same for you, that sounds like a personal problem.  

I do not know who this person is. I have never seen them on any platforms.Block for the safety of your transfem mutuals

(i.e. a pseudo essay on racism / whitewashing / ethnic diversity, and an artistic choice + Twisted Wonderland)

    At the outset, I would like to point out that I fully agree that racism is wrong. I have no doubts about it. And yes, whitewashing is a problem, considering that people of color feel like there is no proper representation of someone like them in media.  This essay was not written to offend anyone. I just wanted to highlight a tendency that I often encounter in Twisted Wonderland fandom.

Definition/ The Power of Fiction/ Twisted Wonderland

   The definition of “whitewashing” can be summed up in the statement that it is an action based on “Hiring white actresses and actors for roles intended for representatives of other races or ethnic minorities.” or deliberate or not fully consciously designing a character with an intention of a different ethnic / racial origin, but without or with little recognition of the characteristics of this group (skin color, facial features, etc.) So we are talking about a certain representation of the realities of the real world. But what when we are dealing with a fantasy world, where the creator has all the rights given to them by unlimited imagination? What if „race” (God, I don’t like that word for many reasons) is no longer an interpersonal construct when there are species other than human? And what if we put several different ethnic groups in one territory, and they mix with each other to form a community?

Well, then we are dealing with the non-obvious. Not only in the realm of differences between ethnic groups as such, but also inter species (humans beasts, fairies, gnomes, orcs, trolls, whatever comes to your mind). With such an arsenal of diversity, less significant physical discrepancies may, at the creator’s will, lose any meaning (e.g. the latest Witcher on Netflix).

   The world of Twisted Wonderland from what we have seen pays attention to diversity mainly species and culture than the skin color of the characters (Well, yes, I remember the fairies gala during which Leona, Kalim and Jamil were called „exotic” but as far as we saw no one did  comment on them in a negative way because of the color of their skin. Not every comment on this topic is fully linguistically negative).

From what we can see, race (I mean mermaids, fairies, beastmen) in this context is, as already, the subject of comment. At this point I would like to mention Sebek, who so far is probably the only character discriminating against someone on the basis of race, interestingly- only people. While being half fae. Sebek, I know you can do better; -;

   However … what does all of this have to do with anything? That the world is rich in diversity, blends, and non-obviousness. Reality is intertwined with imagination and magic. What does all this have to do with whitewashing? The fact  is that there are not only two races! Even with us. There are many ethnic groups, mixed relationships, emigration. Closing into “black” and “white” (I know that whitewashing affects not only blacks, but this post would still be longer) closes us to other people, to other possibilities like you know, Mulattoes, Latinos, Gypsies e.t.c-they all seem to be in some untouched gray area in discussion of whitewashing and somewhere beyond the topic itself .

A character in fantasy world can have all sorts of features. They may have white hair and black skin with sharp eyes. They may have the most fanciful heterochromia, birthmarks, and yes, the fantasy world is based on the real world, but doesn’t have to obey its laws.

Context speaks volumes.

   The whitewashing allegations seem to hover around Leona. What do we know about him? He is a beastman based on Scar, a cult figure, the antagonist of The Lion King. He is the prince of a kingdom called Afterglow Savannah (depends on the translation). This country is inhabited by both beastmen (Ruggie) and people (Rook-emigration? Who knows?) The main argument „Leona must be black” theory, is that the action of the “Lion King” takes place in Africa, and more specifically in Kenya. And since the country of Leona itself, suggests a similar location in terms of the Savannah, as well as the original location that Disney studio modeled when creating the animation, the conclusion is that Leona and all residents of Afterglow Savannah should be black to resemble the people of Kenya. The problem is … it doesn’t have to be that way. Because Pride Land wasn’t Kenya or Afterglow Savannah after all. The inspired site does not have to be the target site. And from what we know, the country mentioned in the game may be a place containing many, smaller cultures, minorities, and the color of the skin seems to have absolutely no meaning. How important is an animal which characteristics you have and social status (Ruggie in Afterglow Savannah was discriminated because he was a hyena and lived in a slum ). And important thing- we don’t know much about Afterglow Savannah. Nobody from Aniplex or Yana Toboso said that Afterglow Savannach is 100% Africa. Because inspiration is not the same as a literal transfer of reality.

Inspiration and interpretation

BUT going to the point. Is Leona black? He doesn’t have to. But do you know who is? Sam. Really, why isn’t anyone talking about him? And why is that so? Why isn’t Leona black, but Sam is?

Being inspired by a given character means transferring the most characteristic features and transforming them into a new, but similar form. Sam is a character modeled on the evil voodoo magician Dr. Facilier. A black character in the fairy tale “The Princess and the Frog” (one of my favorite Disney animations btw) which is the first Disney animation full of black heroes. If Sam were white - yes it would be definitive problem. The color of his skin, despite the fact that it does not define the character (no skin color defines a human), is a key element due to the original. Like our two students from Scarabia, they are presented as coming from a place culturally similar to Agrabah (a fictional place) because it was a special place for the action. Leona, in turn, is a character modeled on ANIMAL. Not a man of a given culture. His skin color does NOT matter, because it is in no way relevant to the prototype. In that case, we got a man with lion’s physical features, a scar on his eye, green eyes, and a bad temper. Because it matters to the original. We have many iconic scenes related to the movie with him. And that’s all.

 Conclusion

“With such an arsenal of diversity, less significant physical discrepancies may, at the creator’s will, lose any meaning” – that is not a good thing.  It being a fantasy setting should not magically make it so that different phenotypes suddenly become a non-option.  If your fantasy series shows an extremely limited, half-assed attempt with just one (1) character (Sam) with any physically unique features (his locs, his darker skin), then you are reflecting a bias, intentionally or not, in how you design characters and think of ethnic phenotypes outside flat straight hair and thin negligible lips.  Are there black people with Ethnocentric traits?  Yes.  That’s an obvious fact of life.  But are phenotypes like full lips and textured hair widely ignored?  Also yes.  And guess what?  That’s not a fucking good thing.  You want to say it can be a deliberate or unconscious decision of how Toboso creates characters? Well, there you have it.  Since she’s designed Sam the way she has, she’s made it very clear it is a deliberate choice to make Jack, Leona, Jamil, and Kalim look like this.

Yeah, real fucking great diversity, mate.  If she can have such a ~diverse~ set of humans, beastfolk, and fae, then it should be no problem for her to branch ou t when it comes to the rest of their designs. But she chose not to.  I wonder why?  Because they lost meaning?  Is that supposed to be a good thing?  Is it a good thing they’re all the same light, greyish brown?

   The world of Twisted Wonderland from what we have seen pays attention to diversity mainly species and culture than the skin color of the characters (Well, yes, I remember the fairies gala during which Leona, Kalim and Jamil were called „exotic” but as far as we saw no one did comment on them in a negative way because of the color of their skin. Not every comment on this topic is fully linguistically negative). So you’re saying, that Kalim, Leona, and Jamil being singled out as ‘exotic’ wasn’t a racial thing?  Because the flimsy explanation in-game was “oh they’re from rich backgrounds in hot climates uwu”?  When “exotic”, HISTORICALLY, get used as a way to fetishise skin colour and make it another case of “othering” dark skin from light skin? The way it’s disguised as a compliment when it all comes down to othering someone’s dark skin or otherwise ethnic traits compared to white people?  Kind of like how only the dark-skinned characters are considered ‘exotic’?  A term used for animals and objects is meant to compliment people?  

From what we can see, race (I mean mermaids, fairies, beastmen) in this context is, as already, the subject of comment. At this point I would like to mention Sebek, who so far is probably the only character discriminating against someone on the basis of race, interestingly- only people. While being half fae. Sebek, I know you can do better; -; Are you fucking illiterate?  Rook Hunt spends 90% of his lifetime obsessing, OBSESSING, over Beastfolk like Leona, stalking him, asking him (and Fae, for that matter), questions he has no business asking or are they obligated to answer.  He actively waters Leona down to only his animalistic traits, which he himself exasperates because he’s HARASSING Leona whenever the opportunity comes up.  He touches Ruggie’s tail without consent and makes unwarranted comments on his fur when forcing him to tell him about Leona when he doesn’t want to.  Just because his comments are camoflauged under his obsession towards beauty doesn’t mean he isn’t discriminatory against them.

   However … what does all of this have to do with anything? That the world is rich in diversity, blends, and non-obviousness. Reality is intertwined with imagination and magic. What does all this have to do with whitewashing? The fact  is that there are not only two races! Even with us. There are many ethnic groups, mixed relationships, emigration. Closing into “black” and “white” (I know that whitewashing affects not only blacks, but this post would still be longer) closes us to other people, to other possibilities like you know, Mulattoes, Latinos, Gypsies e.t.c-they all seem to be in some untouched gray area in discussion of whitewashing and somewhere beyond the topic itself.

You want to argue about whitewashing, when you’re too fucking stupid to recognise that G*psy is a slur against Romani? That “m*latto* is outdated and has history of being controversial as well?  And none of these groups are ‘untouched grey areas’.  You just don’t pay attention to discussions focused on them.  Just because you do not see it, does not mean it isn’t happening (and it very much is, unless you’ve been living under a goddamn rock during the, for example, ENTIRE issue of whitewashing in the Netflix Winx Club).

A character in fantasy world can have all sorts of features. They may have white hair and black skin with sharp eyes. They may have the most fanciful heterochromia, birthmarks, and yes, the fantasy world is based on the real world, but doesn’t have to obey its laws.

And yet, again, here’s Toboso’s vast and creative design choices for her dark-skinned major characters.  

She couldn’t even be bothered to make more than one (1) character with ANY SIGNIFICANT variation in skin tone.  All four of them are just this ‘consumable’, light brown that I could find on an apartment’s carpet.  And that’s JUST me bringing up skin colour because, again, in a fantasy setting, why couldn’t she be bothered to think about unique phenotypes?  Why is it okay for her to reflect her own biases again and again and again like the rest of mainstream media thoughout centuries, but it’s suddenly problematic for fans of colour to want more than just the same recycled designs?  When shows MUCH older than TWST, like JJBA and HxH, can have designs like Avdol, Annie, Smokey Brown (awful fucking name tho) and Canary, why can’t Toboso be bothered to more than just Sam?  Is there a good reason?  Or did Soma and Agni use up all her ink?

The whitewashing allegations seem to hover around Leona. What do we know about him? He is a beastman based on Scar, a cult figure, the antagonist of The Lion King. He is the prince of a kingdom called Afterglow Savannah (depends on the translation). This country is inhabited by both beastmen (Ruggie) and people (Rook-emigration? Who knows?) The main argument „Leona must be black” theory, is that the action of the “Lion King” takes place in Africa, and more specifically in Kenya. And since the country of Leona itself, suggests a similar location in terms of the Savannah, as well as the original location that Disney studio modeled when creating the animation, the conclusion is that Leona and all residents of Afterglow Savannah should be black to resemble the people of Kenya.

First off, no one’s fucking said that EVERY character from Afterglow Savannah has to be black.  Not a single fucking person.  That’s why it’s FINE that characters like Ruggie and Rook aren’t dark-skinned (you could easily just say Ruggie is mixed).  

  The problem is … it doesn’t have to be that way. Because Pride Land wasn’t Kenya or Afterglow Savannah after all. The inspired site does not have to be the target site.

And YET.  The Lion King uses SWAHILI NAMES for its animal characters.  It has songs USING THE SWAHILI LANGUAGE. KILAMANJARO IS IN THE ICONIC OPENING SCENE.  IT IS INDISPUTABLY SET IN AFRICA.  Just because it is not set in an explicitly stated African country, it USES THE LANGUAGE AND SCENERY ITSELF.  It’s in AFRICA.

And from what we know, the country mentioned in the game may be a place containing many, smaller cultures, minorities, and the color of the skin seems to have absolutely no meaning. How important is an animal which characteristics you have and social status (Ruggie in Afterglow Savannah was discriminated because he was a hyena and lived in a slum ). And important thing- we don’t know much about Afterglow Savannah. Nobody from Aniplex or Yana Toboso said that Afterglow Savannach is 100% Africa. Because inspiration is not the same as a literal transfer of reality.

You suffer from “colourblindness”, and there’s a plethora of fucking issues with that.  Since Afterglow Savannah has several cultures within it, it should reflect that in having several skin colours and phenotypes.  Not just cookie-cutter design bullshit Toboso may pull.  The clothing Cheka wears are based off African prints, his name, usually spelt T’cheka, is African in origin.  The moment you want to start using the language and clothing of the culture you’re ‘inspired’ by, you better fucking deliver and ACKNOWLEDGE that beyond just the pretty aesthetics to make things seem more ‘exotic’, as the game wants to put it.  It is a location based off the Lion King’s setting, which gets its inspiration from Kenya and Tanzania, using a language and scenery from Africa.  So the Afterglow Savannah better fucking reflect that in its culture and people.  The charcters themselves are BEASTFOLK, not ANIMALS, and using AFRICA, which has AFRICAN PEOPLE IN IT, it’s a bad look to JUST look at these characters as animals.

BUT going to the point. Is Leona black? He doesn’t have to. But do you know who is? Sam. Really, why isn’t anyone talking about him? And why is that so? Why isn’t Leona black, but Sam is?

You REALLY don’t want Leona to be black, huh.  Anyway Sam HAS come up in discussions in that he’s the one (1) character with darker skin and anything unique about his design (the locs).  

Being inspired by a given character means transferring the most characteristic features and transforming them into a new, but similar form. Sam is a character modeled on the evil voodoo magician Dr. Facilier. A black character in the fairy tale “The Princess and the Frog” (one of my favorite Disney animations btw) which is the first Disney animation full of black heroes. If Sam were white - yes it would be definitive problem. The color of his skin, despite the fact that it does not define the character (no skin color defines a human), is a key element due to the original.

Convenient avoidance of the racist and inaccurate portrayal of voodou in the Princess in the Frog to begin with, not to mention Sam’s edgy, nonsensical bone makeup that FURTHER reflects Toboso’s own biases and interpretations of something part of Haitian culture.  

Are you really doing this? “Leona doesn’t have to be black, you have Sam, be happy you have one (1) black character uwu”.  Since Sam can have some pigment, WHY CAN’T THE OTHERS? Since Sam has unique phenotypes, WHY CAN’T THE OTHERS.  And why is, even then, do people STILL manage to give Sam a lighter complexion in their fanart of him, let alone of the lighter skinned characters of colour?

Like our two students from Scarabia, they are presented as coming from a place culturally similar to Agrabah (a fictional place) because it was a special place for the action. For the record, the only reason Aladdin takes place in Agrabah is that, because, originally it was meant to take place in Iran. But then the war happened and Disney didn’t want to risk hurting their sales.  So now you have a setting haphazardly mixing unique SWANA cultures for the aesthetic and happily calling it “barbaric” within the first few verses at the very beginning of the goddamn movie.

Leona, in turn, is a character modeled on ANIMAL. Not a man of a given culture. His skin color does NOT matter, because it is in no way relevant to the prototype. In that case, we got a man with lion’s physical features, a scar on his eye, green eyes, and a bad temper. Because it matters to the original. We have many iconic scenes related to the movie with him. And that’s all.

And, again, we come back to the fact that Toboso is STILL CLEARLY USING INSPIRATION from African cultures, and watering down characters to JUST their animalistic traits is a bad look and reflects poorly on her decision-making skills (and you for that matter).  

Racism and colourism are just as prevalent in Japan as they are in the West.  People are discriminated against because of their skin colour, or just because of their ethnic background (the Ainu, the Okinawan), or just because they’re mixed (see: J’Nique Nicole and how she was treated working in Japan).

Japan isn’t your magical “race doesn’t matter” utopia.  Toboso is a grown ass Japanese woman in an industry centred on designs and worldbuilding, she fucking knows better. She CAN do better.  You want to ask WHY Leona has to be black?  Why DOESN’T he have to be black?  Why DOESN’T Afterglow Savannah have to reflect the FACT it takes inspiration DIRECTLY FROM Africa?

As many other black twst fans have pointed out Leona doesn't have a natural hairstyle for a black person. And I personally doubt that Leona is spending the kind of time every week that it would take to maintain his hairstyle. My explanation for this(other than Yana Toboso being a coward) is that Leona relaxes his hair. For those who don't know, relaxing hair is when black people do a chemical treatment to loosen their curls either for fashion or for ease of maintenance.

Since taking care of black hair is very time consuming and Leona doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would enjoy that, him relaxing his hair makes sense to me. Picking one salon trip every 2 months over spending 3 hours a week easily, just sounds like something he would do .

He are some examples of black hair to illustrate my point.

Natural hair

Relaxed hair

It’s hard not to believe it’s a race thing when every fandom vilifies a good-natured or normal poc while romanticizing the abusive white character. It’s hard to believe it’s not a race thing when every fandom accuses the poc when they’re affectionate towards a white character of being too aggressive or so platonic, but encourage abuse between two white characters and call it “romantic”. It’s hard to believe it’s not a race thing when every fandom treats a healthy interracial ship like it’s disgusting while freely and gleefully shipping incestuous white/white ships or shipping abusive white/white ships- which are always the most popular in every fandom.

It’s hard to believe it’s not a race thing when a show or film can be predominantly poc and the fandom still will only care about the 1 or 2 side white characters. It’s hard not to believe it’s a race thing when a poc can be fully fleshed out and the fandom still will make a white side character with one line the most popularly meta’d character.

It’s hard to believe it’s not a race thing when every poc is automatically labeled by every fandom as the “dad” of the group or the “mom” of the group for no reason other than to do away with every characterization of the poc so they can just be reduced to a simple trope so the fandom doesn’t have to care about them.

It’s hard to believe it’s not a race thing when every single fandom in existence treats poc characters and even poc actors the same exact negative way. They are always lesser than, always less than romantic, always less than a lead character, always less than relevant, to the white characters/actors in fandoms. When every fandom treats the main poc like a side character and the side white character like the main character.

Both come from a place of privilege, influence, wealth and power

Both wanted to cheat the system by targeting their rivals and eliminating them

Both wanted to actively physically harm their rivals

Both wanted to achieve the outcome of being the best in everyone’s eyes

Both were perceived to be the “villain” (to put it loosely, contextually its slightly different) during their upbringing

Both, whether consciously or not, internalised that villain persona that people around them initially placed on them, which is something they relied on eventually and probably to further suppress anxiety and trauma around these experiences.

Both projected their grief and insecurities on those who were not directly responsible for their experiences and issues. 

It’s just that, people find Vil’s character personality to be more appealing because negative racial stereotypes are not attached to him (the aggressive, lazy dark skinned man vs the hard working White man) and I think implicit (at times explicit) racial bias is definitely, absolutely a core factor in the way people treat these two.

Cause lets be real if Leona was White then you BET, NO QUESTION ABOUT IT people would be more lenient with his actions and find ways to prove his innocence, jump through hoops to explain why his actions were actually not that bad (as they do for some folk *cough* Rook and Vil *cough*), but just the existence of racial stereotypes which have already historically dehumanised and viliainised people who look like Leona gives people more incentive to act so boldly racist and hate Leona more. It’s actually not even funny anymore because the amount of people who hate leona but LOVE Vil is uncanny, and often none of these people are Black and/or POC.  

In my honest opinion, one was too swept with having higher moral ground and superiority, valuing hard work and effort as an achievement of “true beauty”, while in the end completely disconnecting from that value and contradicting their words by cheating, forcing and manipulating/abusing a minor to help them achieve this. The other wanted to reclaim superiority due to being considered and treated as inferior by those around him, and to do that was to cheat as well, again because insecurity of being the second born outcast. Again, despite Ruggie and others being willing, still manipulating and abusing a minor to help him carry it out. 

At the same time Leona’s story was so badly written, no redeeming qualities were provided or even implied in the story regarding him, underwhelming, and the fact that Yana decided it was a good choice to make a Black coded character with these racially stereotypical qualities with a story like THAT? Only exacerbates people’s negative attitudes and feelings towards his character and his story and so there’s a higher likelihood of overriding any of the aspects of his personality which deviates from these stereotypes (e.g., his hate for physical fights and valuing intelligence and intellect is completely left out because his character portrays aggressiveness and hostility towards people).